


Your secret

by KokutoYoru



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fantasy elements, Hurt Sanji, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Roronoa Zoro, Zosan Secret Santa 2019, but they have Law on board, i guess, not canon compliant after fishmen island, perceptive zoro, selkie Sanji, selkies have their own way of proposing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21977914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KokutoYoru/pseuds/KokutoYoru
Summary: There was something wrong with Sanji. With how he acted when he thought no one was looking. It was this longing in his eyes and this pain in his moves. Zoro wanted to know the reason of that. And maybe help?
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Sanji
Comments: 7
Kudos: 327





	Your secret

**Author's Note:**

> This is written for Mako as a zosan secret santa 2019 gift. Hope you enjoy.  
> English isn't my first language so if you spot any mistakes let me know.

Surprisingly, it didn’t happen when they had tougher times. When they were forced to fight with Marines, other pirates or civilians, when they had to make some difficult decisions, when they were betrayed, hurt, in other kind of troubles… Sanji was always so calm and composed. He never acted strange – well, maybe apart from his weird behavior around all women – doing whatever he thought was needed to keep them all alive and in one piece.  


That changed only when it was quiet and peaceful. When the blond thought he was alone and no one was watching. When he was deep in thought while smoking. When he was finished with all his duties after dinner and just stayed in the kitchen for some time longer.  


Why did Zoro – of all people – noticed this? Maybe it was because he was usually the one who was on watch duty? Maybe because he had so light sleep that he heard every sound in bunk room, no matter how muffled it was. Was it because he was more perceptive than most of other crew members? Or just because there was something in Sanji that always made him look at him, seek him out when he didn’t see him for longer than usual… Or something entirely different. Did it really matter though? He did notice and that’s it.

~X~

The first time that happened, they didn’t really know each other. They were fighting with Arlong and his fishmen. The word Zoro would use to describe them, was probably annoying. They were rather strong, that’s true, but nothing they couldn’t handle. That’s what he was hoping for, when he saw his crew member being thrown into the water and that’s what he was sure, when they won.  


But when Sanji finally come back to land after his fight, there was something strange about him. He just curled himself up and started shaking. Zoro forced himself to stand up, even when he only dreamed about taking a nap, and made his way toward the blond.  


"Oi, you ok?" he asked, trying to see the cooks face.  


And he did manage that. Angry eyes met his own, when Sanji turned around and glared at him, baring his teeth like some kind of feral animal. But what made swordsman to take a step back, was something else. In his eyes, there was pain and sadness so deep, green haired couldn’t even imagine, what have happened underwater.  


"Leave me alone," snarled cook.  


Zoro decided then and there, that he probably shouldn’t show that he had just witnessed their new crew member’s moment of weakness. So he just shrugged, pretending that the wetness on the cook’s cheeks was from the sea water alone.  


"Oh, shut up, curly. And here I was hoping that you were dead already..."

~X~

In most cases, Zoro just pretended not to notice. He kept his eyes closed when he heard silent sobs in their bunk room, he averted his gaze when single tears fell down Sanji’s cheek, he decided to steal the sake another time, when he saw through a porthole the hunched back of the cook… The blond was strong and prideful, he hated his weaknesses and probably wouldn't be too happy about knowing that someone found out about those times.  


Sometimes it was hard to turn around and leave. They lived on a small boat, after all. Some situations were hard to avoid.  


"Oi, cook. You still the…? " Zoro stopped when he saw, how Sanji, who was facing away from him, curled up on himself even more. "You should go to bed, already," he finished lamely, trying not to sound like he noticed anything unusual.  


"Yeah, so you could steal some booze again?" asked blond, not turning around. His voice wavered, if only a little.  


"Just some water this time," replied swordsman, what was true. This time.  


"Sure, go ahead then"  


Zoro took some water and drank it as quickly as he could without choking. He cleaned empty glass and put it in place and then turned to leave.  


" You shouldn’t be working on recipes that late. If you make breakfast too late, Luffy won’t stop complaining," he said, pretending not to notice anything.  


"I’ll go to sleep soon," promised Sanji, pretending to believe him.

~X~

Situations like this were happening from time to time. Each time, both of them pretended that nothing unusual had place. But, of course, things couldn’t go that way forever.  


"Usopp, do you know more legends like the one with Norland?" asked Chopper, bouncing excitedly next to the sharpshooter.  


They had some party next to a huge campfire on the sky island. Somehow, since they get here, Sanji seemed more at ease. As if height helped him a bit.  


"Of course I do! I spend twenty years in a long lost library, reading all kind of legends you could imagine…" Usopp started his story.  


"Aren’t you, like seventeen years old?" asked Nami, but turned too, ready to hear some interesting stories. Even if they were all made up.  


"Well…" Usopp seemed to lose his confidence, being catched on a lie like this.  


"Stories! Stories!" yelled Luffy, which returned long nosed man to his earlier self.  


"Yes, of course! Let me tell you about… Maybe selkies?"  


Most of the crew gathered around sharpshooter, looking at him with interest. Which was why only Zoro noticed, how Sanji, so relaxed until this moment, suddenly stand up with anxiety written all over his face.  


"I’ll gather some more wood," he said quietly, to no one in particular and left them.  


Zoro kept an eye on him, while listening to Usopps voice. Of course, most of his stories were obviously just that – stories. But he had feelings, that some of it may not be so impossible. They just had party on an island floating in the sky, after all. And cook seemed to know something more about it.

~X~

Normally, Sanji wouldn’t speak about himself. And especially not with Zoro. When he was drunk, however… That was an entirely different story. Drunk Sanji loved to talk. About mostly everything. With everyone. There were still some topics he didn’t allow himself to share, but it was still easier to get some information out of him without risk of being kicked in the head… Or without it making their relationship more complicated, as blond wouldn’t remember any of it in the following day.  


So, of course, Zoro keep trying using those few moments to know as much as he could. There wasn’t much, unfortunately.  


"Tell me about the All Blue," suggested Zoro one evening, when it was only the two of them awake. Rest of the crew already went to beds.  


"This is the place, where all fishes from every sea live together," started Sanji, small smile on his lips. It didn’t look like the usual expression he would make when talking about his dream, this one have some longing in it. "The water there is clear and quite chill, perfect for swimming. Light reach even the deepest parts. When you are at the very bottom and look up it’s like looking at the rainbow. There are so many different colors there. And everyone live there peacefully."  


"Everyone?" Swordsman looked at him surprised. "Who?"  


"The mermaids, mermen, the…" Sanji’s drunk expression was for a moment replaced with concentrated one, as if he suddenly recalled something. "Everyone," he finished.  


"And you know all of that from the books?" Zoro took a swig from his own bottle of booze. That didn’t seem right.  


"It isn’t something you find in books," cook forgot himself for a moment. Yes, that was something Zoro was hoping for. A little glimpse of knowledge, even when it didn’t make much sense. "Legends do more, but how can they know, what is true and what is just someone’s imagination…"  


From the way Sanji was talking, swordsman knew he didn’t have much time left. Blond would surely fell asleep in a moment.  


"You sound like you were there before," he tried.  


"I wish I could return there…"  


This night Zoro spend looking at the sea, thinking about All Blue, sea, fishes and Sanji. When he fell asleep himself, he dreamed of that weird fish-thing Luffy drew some time ago, with cigarette sticking out of it’s mouth. The kick in the head which woke him up near the noon didn’t even piss him off that much.

~X~

Keimi was nice, Zoro decided after some time. She acted strange most of the times but she was also kind and most of the crew befriended her rather quickly. Of course, Sanji was the one who was near constantly all over the poor mermaid, shouting his usual bullshit. At one time, swordsman started even thinking about how long cook could salivating like he was without some serious dehydration. Well, Chopper wouldn’t allow that, but it was still interesting.  


"How fast can you swim?" asked Luffy, who also was spending way too much time with their new friend. For different reasons, of course.  


"Show us, show us!" joined Usopp and Chopper.  


Keimi agreed and started swimming around Sunny. Even Zoro was impressed. That was way faster than he thought. But he didn’t get to watch her for too long. Sanji, who was preparing some snacks, just left the kitchen and opened his mouth as if to call everyone in. But he didn’t, his eyes followed gazes of his crew members and noticed Keimi in the sea. Instead of his usual behavior, like praising her or drooling himself, he sighed and took a drag from his cigarette. There was this sadness in his eyes again, this pain, this… Well, there was something different this time, some kind of anger, maybe?  


Cook looked around and noticed Zoro staring. He blinked as if coming back to reality. Swordsman once again decided not to let out that he noticed anything.  


"Stop staring like some pervert and just tell them the food is ready," he said, getting up from his place next to the mast.  


"Food!?" exclaimed Luffy, suddenly losing his interest in their new friend.  


"Pervert?" Franky looked around as if checking if someone was calling him.  


"Yeah, don’t eat everything," muttered Sanji, letting Luffy into the galley, then proceeding to call women, completely ignoring everything, and everyone, else.  


Again, Zoro decided, it’s best to leave him be. If he had some kind of problem, he would tell them, right?

~X~

"Mermaids are nearly the most valuable ones in places like this," explained one of the men, who have helped them.  


Most of the crew looked at least furious or grossed out. Or both, in some cases. Who could treat another human beings as a thing that can be sold? Or not entirely human, but it didn’t really matter. They could think and feel just like any other, so why all of this…?  


"You just said ‘nearly’?" Nami was the first one to shake out of this. Probably because there were money involved. Or she just wanted to think about something, anything, else than their friend who was surely held somewhere inside this building.  


"That’s right. There are few races more valuable, but they are way harder to find. Some people say they avoid humans on purpose."  


"Like what?" Usopp too looked as if he wanted some kind of distraction.  


"Like selkies. There usually is one every few years. I heard that if you have their pelt, they’ll do everything you ask them. Great wives or something like that."  


"Wives? Like female?" Robin looked at the man with interest.  


"Well, I never heard about a male one before. I mean, there are some tales about a male selkie who was captured many years ago, but I don’t thing that’s true. And if it is, then I’m not sure if anyone here can imagine a price for that one…"  


Their little conversation was interrupted when the announcer finally mentioned about mermaid. However, Zoro couldn’t help but noticed, how Sanji’s muscles tensed and how he bit his lower lip. That was probably because he was worried about their friend. Yep, that’s definitely the reason. His shaking and a little bit faster breath were because of that too.

~X~

Two years. They haven’t seen each other for two whole years. All of them changed in some ways. Matured, somehow. Even the oldest ones, for which those two years shouldn’t have made that much of a difference. But apparently, when you have enough motivation, you can work with anything. Even when you are ninety years old bones with bad sense of humor, thought Zoro when he heard another ‘skull joke’ which still made him smile. As bad as it was, he still missed it.  


There was also one thing that swordsman wanted to change. After way too many chats with Perona – more like one sided monologues, really – he decided that maybe pretending that nothing happen wasn’t that good of an idea. After all, in their long journey, Sanji didn’t share his problem, whatever it may be. Which was a little concerning if he was honest.  


Zoro planned to talk to cook as soon as they were alone for some time. Which turned out to be much harder than he anticipated. The second they met they started arguing – nothing too unusual – and after that there were problems and they left the Sabaody in way too much hurry. Again, they shouldn’t be surprised by that. Their captain was Luffy, after all.  


Well, maybe on their next island…

~X~

Yep, Zoro really should talk with Sanji. On Fishman Island cook seemed to be even more off than before. On their way down he acted weird but with everyone concentrated on their surrounding, nobody really observed. But when they arrived, it started to get noticed by most of the crew.  


"Are you sure, you are fine?" Nami glanced at Sanji with badly masked worry on her face.  


"Of course, my beautiful flower! I am so glad you care about me!" he answered immediately, but without his usual noodle like waving. He was stiff, his movements lack of their ease.  


"If you say so…" she didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t pry.  


Maybe that was what Zoro should do too. But it was exactly what he was doing until this time and it seemed that things only get worse.  


"If you are in pain, you should tell Chopper," suggested Robin, but only got small smile in return.  


"I’m fine. Thank you, Robin-chwan," Sanji answered politely, though with each passing hour he looked worse.  


It was night, when Zoro got the opportunity to be alone with cook. They all get separate rooms, so Sanji should be in his. And that was exactly where swordsman found him. Only not in the state he expected.  


"What happened?" asked Zoro when, upon entering the room, he noticed Sanji curled up on the floor, shaking and sobbing silently.  


"No- nothing. Leave. Please." Sanji never said ‘please’. Not to Zoro at least, so he was tempted to listen, just this once. But then he remembered why he was here in the first place. And it looked just like he may be right.  


"I’m not leaving, cook. What’s wrong?" he asked, getting closer and crouching behind his companion, not sure what to do with his hands. After a while he awkwardly putted one on cook’s back, massaging lightly.  


"It’s… not," he was struggling with every word. "I’m…" Shaky breath, then as if something broke: "It hurt. My body, my skin, my lungs… I can’t take it anymore. It’s too much. It’s too close."  


Well, that was more than Zoro was expected, honestly. And way worse than he thought. It looked like Sanji was in a lot of pain. Pain he couldn’t bear, which was telling a lot, considering how injured he used to be before.  


"Should I call Chopper?" Swordsman already knew the answer but was wondering if he should just ignore this…  


"No. He can’t help," Sanji voice sounded so small… Zoro wanted to help, but didn’t know how.  


"How can I help?" he asked, trying to turn the cook’s face so he could look at him.  


Sanji did turn and his expression wasn’t making good view either. His lips were bleeding from where he was biting them way too hard, there were tears on his cheeks and his eyes were pleading. The problem was, he didn’t know what he needed. And then, the cook moved. Grabbing Zoro and pulling him forward, he hold tightly around his torso and hid his face in his chest.  


"Just… Stay," he asked quietly, still shaking.  


"Of course." Swordsman gently placed his hands on cook’s back and head, trying to soothe him somehow. To help, even if a little. To do something – anything – that could make his friend a little more comfortable.  


And somehow it seemed to work, because maybe an hour later Sanji’s breath was calm again and he was laying relaxed against other man, obviously sleeping. Zoro decided to stay there, he just moved them to bed so they wouldn’t have any aches in the morning.

~X~

The morning was better, but didn’t really bring as much answers as Zoro would want.  


"No, I told you, this isn’t something Chopper could help with," Sanji just shook his head, taking a drag from his cigarette.  


"Why?" Swordsman looked at him with mix of worry and annoyance. "You said yourself that it hurt, so he could give you some painkillers or…"  


"No," cook interrupted him. "It’s not… Physical pain. Nothing a doctor can do. Even the best one can’t help with that."  


"Why? What is it? Why can’t you just say what’s wrong with you?"  


"Because!" Sanji looked as if he didn’t know if he should be more angry or embarrassed. Somehow, he managed to do both. "It isn’t something any of you can help me with, so why should I worry you? Besides, I’ll eventually get used to it. It’s just because of this place…"  


"You said something similar last night," noticed Zoro. "That’s it too close… Close to what?"  


Sanji bit his lip, glaring at his feet as if it offended him somehow. He definitely was wondering if he should say something. After few minutes he made up his mind.  


"To water," he admitted quietly, not raising his gaze. "I wasn’t in this kind of situation since that rock…"  


"Water?" Zoro frowned, trying to understand. "But don’t you like water? You usually look like the only thing you want is to go to water…"  


"I do like water! That’s why… That’s why it hurt to be this close… Like, when you are hungry and you can see food which you can’t reach, it makes you feel that hunger even more…"  


"Oh."Swordsman finally get, at least a little, what the other man meant. So he was right when he thought he saw longing in his eyes each time he looked at sea. But still, why…? "Swimming isn’t enough, is it?" he asked, just to make sure.  


"No," cook confirmed, sighing silently. "Please, don’t ask any more questions. I already told you too much."  


"Fine," Zoro agreed, although reluctantly. "But if you need help… Just tell me, ok?"  


"Yeah, sure." Sanji smiled weakly. "Go already, I need to take a shower. I reek of marimo."  


"Oh, shut up!"  


Maybe Zoro didn’t do as much as he wished he could, but he knew he helped, at least a little.

~X~

They took him. Zoro felt as if he may explode. While they were playing heroes on some not important island, someone took Sanji. No, not someone. The Vinsmokes. Apparently the ones who called themselves Sanji’s family.  


"We need to get him back," said Luffy. They all agreed.  


Nami set course. When they gathered in the galley, Robin, Brook and Law told them everything they knew. It wasn’t much. Brook’s and Law’s knowledge was mostly what they read or heard from some tales. Robin managed to get more solid information, but it wasn’t much. But Zoro heard what most of the others couldn’t.  


"What else did you hear? I know that most of that may be just lies, but it’s best to hear as much as we can." Nami looked at Brook, who was telling them about how Germa was supposed to be really dangerous military force. Most of his tale where from long ago and probably told about previous generation, but it was still more than they knew.  


"There were rumors that they managed to catch lot of different species." Skeleton hummed quietly, thinking for a while. "I even heard they managed to tame a dragon, but it couldn’t be true.  


"Well, they did send some information about different species to some science facilities," told Robin, who was reading something in what seemed like some kind of notebook. Most of the crew was too afraid to ask where did she find it. "Something about giants, mermaids, minks, selkies, dwarves, baboks – whatever that may be – but nothing about dragons." She hummed lightly, turning few pages. "But some of those creatures does sound like they could crush us like flies…"  


"Robin, don’t say such scary things!" shouted Usopp, and Chopper agreed with him.  


But Zoro didn’t listen what they were talking about after that. He finally thought he may understand. He would need to check something, but maybe, just maybe, he knew what was wrong with Sanji. And how he could help him.

~X~

Zoro found himself in the library, looking at all the books they had. Which was way more than he remembered. And finding a particular one was even harder, considering he wasn’t spending much time in this room.  


"What are you looking for?" At this point he wasn’t even surprised that Robin managed to find him and somehow get behind him without him noticing. She was always like a ghost, even more after their parting.  


"What do you know about selkies?" he asked, deciding, that maybe her presence may be useful.  


"Selkies?" Archaeologist sounded slightly surprised, whether she didn’t know or she was just pretending for whatever reasons, Zoro had no idea. "Why do you want to know about them? They are figures of myths and fairy tales, after all."  


"I just want to check something. If I’m wrong, then there is no reasons to tell you, after all."  


She hummed, as if agreeing with him. Then, an arm appeared on one of the shelves, picking a book and then throwing it at him.  


"This one should be the most useful one. If you had any questions, just ask." And then she disappeared. So she wasn’t really here, it was her weird ability. Whatever, she have helped him.

~X~

Swordsman was nearly sure, he was right. With everything he knew about Sanji, every detail he noticed and some events that occurred… Yup, it made sense. The weird longing, how he looked at the sea, his pain, even the way he looked at mermaids. And if he was right, then reasons why cook left them to go with those Germa bastards was also quite obvious. And if that was it, then he knew how to get the blond back.  


"Brook," he said, when their destination was in their view. "Can you find one location on that ship?"  


Musician glanced at him with interest.  


"I think I can. What are you looking for?"  


"Yes, Zoro. What are you looking for? If for a way to get lost, you don’t need Brook for that," said Nami, eyeing him suspiciously.  


"Don’t you have someone else to bug, witch?" Swordsman looked at her with mild annoyance, but then frowned in thought. "Well, you could come too. I’m looking for their… treasury."  


"Oh, I didn’t know you could think about something like that! You should say so in the first place! Brook, look for it! And Zoro, you will come with me, someone needs to carry it back on Sunny," she ordered, clearly excited but still a little dubious. "But don’t even think about taking any gold for yourself!"  


"Don’t worry." Zoro smiled slightly. "I’m not looking for gold."  


"Then what are you looking for?" She looked even more suspicious now.  


"Just some fur."  


"Fur!?" She nearly yelled, not sure if she heard correctly. "Since when do you care about something like clothes?"  


"Let’s say this is an exception."  


She just nodded, clearly curious but letting him have some privacy. After all, it wasn’t like she could lost much by letting him have one fur…

~X~

Germa’s ship was on fire. The crew returned to Sunny and they were watching flames shooting high in the sky, not leaving much doubt about it’s future. They were again together. Everyone. Luffy and Chopper were hugging Sanji, Usopp was telling some made up stories, women were smiling at him, Franky cried somewhere on deck and Brook was playing some light tunes. Even Law looked glad, standing next to the mast and still staring at the distant fire.  


But Sanji didn’t look too happy, Yes, he was smiling, he was answering, he was flirting with ladies… But in his eyes there was that deep sadness, this… despair. As if he just lost something more precious than his life.  


"I’ll go prepare some snacks. You guys are probably hungry?" asked Sanji, as if that was the only reason he wanted to go to kitchen. To place, where he could be alone.  


"Yes! Sanji, meat!" yelled excitedly Luffy, and Chopper and Usopp joined him.  


Zoro waited few minutes before going after cook. He entered the kitchen and saw that Sanji was leaning on table, his breath shallow and his knuckles white for clenching his fists so tight.  


"It’s gone," he whispered, raising his gaze only a little, as if to let swordsman know he noticed his presence. "Now there is nothing that can help me. I can’t go back…"  


"Your fur? Or what it’s called…? Pelt or something?"  


"What!?" Zoro never saw Sanji’s head move so quickly. "How did you…?"  


"It took some time, but even I could figure it out. You gave pretty clear hints." Zoro shrugged, leaning against the wall.  


"For how long…?" Sanji was still clearly shocked.  


"Not that long. I really thought about it when you left us. Maybe a week?"  


"Then you also knew that it was probably somewhere on that ship?"  


"Yeah, I thought that was very likely," he agreed.  


"Then why… Why did you let them burn it!? Didn’t you think, even for a second, to try and not destroy it!?" Now the cook was furious. Nothing too surprising. After all, he didn’t know.  


"Of course I did. And I have it here." Zoro smiled even wider, reaching under his coat and taking out the fur he found.  


When he was planning this, he was very dubious if he could even find it. After all, how could he be sure if one fur was the one he was looking for? But when he did find it, suddenly he was wondering, how he could ever doubt that. Pelt was nearly pearly white with bluish stripes around the edges. It was so soft. When swordsman touched it, he suddenly thought about the moment, when he was hugging Sanji, petting his hair. And there was something else, some kind of aura around it that made it just so… Sanji. So when he get it out, he was sure it was the right fur.  


"You…!" Cook made a step forward, reaching out a hand as if to touch it. But he stopped himself. "What… What do you want in return?"  


"What?" Zoro frowned. He definitely wasn’t expecting this question.  


"You have it. And, if you know about it, then you know what you can do with it. So just tell me what you want… I was without it for sixteen years now. I can do everything you want, just please, don’t make me wait too long…" he pleaded with despair clear in his eyes.  


And at that moment, swordsman understood. Sanji was afraid. Well, afraid was a huge understatement. After all, the only people who had his pelt until this time were abusing that fact. And apparently, the fact that he was a crew mate, his friend, didn’t make his fears any lighter.  


"Well, if you say it like that, I have one thing to ask you," he finally said, smiling softly.  


"Of course you have." Sanji snorted, but straightened up anyway. "What is it?"  


"What about a little hug?"  


"What!?" Cook looked at him in wonder, as if not really believing in what he heard.  


"You know, if that’s too much, I can…"  


"No! That’s… That’s fine. I can do it."  


Zoro smiled and then opened his arms invitingly. Sanji came closer hesitantly and moved his own arms behind the swordsman back. Green haired man held him closer.  


"Not everyone want to use you, cook," he whispered and then carefully put the pelt on Sanji’s back. "I’m giving it to you now, so you can know you have a choice, but I want to ask you to do something." He pulled back, smiling at wide eyed Sanji. "Come back to us."  


Cook looked at him for few seconds then made up his mind. He just nodded and then run off toward deck, across it and into water. A light splash was all Zoro heard before shocked yelled from others.  


"What was that?"  


"Was it Sanji?"  


"What happened to him?"  


Zoro sighed. He had some explaining to do.

~X~

It was near midnight, when Zoro heard soft splashing sound next to ship. He moved from his place against railing and looked over to the sea. Beautiful blue head was looking straight at him and he knew.  


"Cook? What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be in your way to All Blue?"  


The seal moved closer to the ship and Zoro understood that too. He throw a ladder down and watched, how seal turned into very human Sanji, who climbed up, shyly hiding his nakedness behind his pelt.  


"Um could you maybe bring me my clothes, marimo?" he asked.  


Zoro nodded and went into the men’s bunk room, grabbed some of the cook’s stuff and come back out. He patiently waited until Sanji was standing in front of him again in clothes, nervously holding the pelt close to his chest.  


"So? Why are you here? Did you forgot something? I don’t think you managed to get there and back here in few hours." Zoro crossed his arms across his chest. He wasn’t angry, just surprised. After all, he expected cook to go back to place he was talking about for so long.  


"I wanted to," Sanji admitted. "I even started to swim in that direction. But… You know, I just needed to go back to sea. Now, when I finally got to do it, I realized that I want to make sure all of you can reach your goals too…" He bit his lower lip. "You’ll need a decent cook. And I want to see how Luffy become the Pirate King. And how you defeat Mihawk."  


"Then I think it’s fine. You’ll need to talk to Luffy and others though. They deserve to know."  


"Do they know?" Cook looked with worry in direction of sleeping rooms.  


"I had to tell them something, so they know some basics. But there is a lot we don’t know yet." Zoro took a step closer, looking Sanji in the eyes. "You should apologize. They were worried."  


"Yeah, I will. I’ll start with great breakfast in the morning!" he decided, looking a little more confident. Then, he glanced at his pelt, still tightly held in his hands. "Can I leave it? Here?"  


"Sure." Zoro smiled and nodded. "Wherever you want. No one will take it away from you."  


"I know. It’s just… What I meant is, can I give it to you? Will you take care of it, while I’m here?"  


"Of course." Swordsman blinked in surprise but extended his hand to take it. The softness immediately made him want to pet it and hold it close to his face. He decided against that and hide it inside his coat. "Just tell me when you want it back."  


Sanji nodded, a slight blush on his face. He took a step forward, placing a hand on Zoro’s shoulder.  


"I want to sleep with you tonight. I don’t think I can meet the others yet."  


Zoro moved even closer, placing his arms around the cook.  


"Whenever you want," he agreed easily.  


There were still some issues they needed to explain. But they had time, the others would understood in the morning and Sanji seemed to finally accept the fact, that there were people he could trust.

~X~

"You know," Robin started calmly, looking at Sanji, who was serving Nami some tea. "I read that book too."  


"Mhm," Zoro hummed slightly, glancing at her with raised eyebrow. She was giving him her famous knowing smirks nearly all day now and it was time she would finally spill it. "What about it?"  


"You did read the part of their habits, right? The mating ones too?"  


Oh. So that’s what she meant! Zoro didn’t really know if he should be embarrassed or just start grinning like some idiot. He ended on somewhere between, with small smile and a little redness creeping on his neck.  


"Well, yes. I read it after he left, though," answered swordsman, scratching the back of his head.  


"But when he gave it back to you, you still accepted?" The archaeologist looked way more smug than she should.  


Zoro just shrugged.  


"Well, there was written that giving selkies their pelt is like proposing to them. And them giving it back to you means exactly the same… But how should I know if that part was true? I mean, some of the information there weren’t true…" Zoro said slowly. He didn’t want to get his hopes too high after all.  


"Don’t worry." Robin’s smile get even wider and more creepy. "I’ll ask him."  


Zoro watched in wonder as the woman get up and walked up to cook. She took the offered cup and started talking with him. Swordsman saw how Sanji’s face suddenly flushed and he nodded. The archaeologist looked at the sitting man and showed him thumb up, while the blond send him a little smile, before hiding in the kitchen.  


The swordsman closed his eyes and laid back against the railing. Looked like he should start looking around for a ring. He was still human, after all and one particular idiot loved humane romantics things like that.


End file.
